Ray Kisonas: Harbaugh deserves more time

Despite Harbaugh's record against the rivals he deserves more than three years to turn things around. Besides, who else is out there?

Ray Kisonas Executive Editor RayKisonas

If expectations for the University of Michigan football include competing for the national championship and beating rivals Michigan State and Ohio State, then the Jim Harbaugh regime so far has been a failure.

In fact, Harbaugh’s record in his first three years of leading the Wolverines is not much better than of Brady Hoke, the Michigan Man who was run out of town and is now the interim coach at Tennessee. After three years as U-M’s head coach, Hoke was 26-13. But he also was 2-4 against MSU and OSU.

Harbaugh, the boy wonder, is 28-10 after three years and only 1-5 against the hated rivals. Anyone else would be on the sizzling seat by now with fans and media calling for the unceremonious removal of his headphones especially after that embarrassing loss to the Spartans earlier this fall and after Saturday’s second-half meltdown against OSU.

But this is Harbaugh. And he is a Bo man. And a Michigan man. And he will coach in Ann Arbor for as long as he wants without any concern about being fired. And, for the foreseeable future, he should. Because despite his record against the rivals he deserves more than three years to turn things around. Besides, who else is out there?

This year certainly has been a disappointment with four losses. Harbaugh is supposed to be the quarterback whisperer, so even though the team lost its top two signal callers, John O’Korn should have stepped in and got the job done, just like the kid from OSU did when J.T. Barrett went down.

But O’Korn couldn’t do it. He has shown repeatedly that he simply isn’t a good quarterback at the major college level. Yet Harbaugh couldn’t get through to him. He must have seen something from O’Korn other than his ability to overthrow receivers, take avoidable sacks and throw to the other team.

The play-calling also has been questionable in several games. Harbaugh insists on a smash-mouth offense and by pounding the ball up the middle even though he doesn’t have a good enough offensive line. And when the run did work, he inexplicably went to the pass, like he did in the soggy MSU game.

Harbaugh has proven that he is an excellent coach at both the pro and college levels. But for some reason that success hasn’t completely followed him to Michigan. Sure 28 wins in a three-year period is impressive. But it isn’t enough. One win against MSU and none against Urban Meyer and Ohio State during that time is particularly galling. That 1-5 record against Michigan’s two greatest rivalry schools is unacceptable and would be grounds for dismissal for most others. But Harbaugh is Teflon Jim.

Next year will be pivotal for the program. Michigan will have a more experienced team and potential stability at quarterback with Harbaugh recruits Brandon Peters and backup Dylan McCaffrey. Trouble will loom because the Wolverines will play on the road against Notre Dame, Northwestern, Michigan State and Ohio State.

But, as usual, expectations will be high because Harbaugh was brought to Ann Arbor to build a championship. Sure he has a solid record, but the results are clearly mixed. He needs the Wolverines to beat the teams that matter.

Michigan is not among the annual national powerhouses like Alabama, Clemson, Oklahoma or even OSU and Wisconsin. And one day the Wolverines might join that group. But not yet. And perhaps not even next year either.

Michigan fans haven’t been especially known for their patience. But with Harbaugh not going anywhere, they have no choice but to wait for a great team to develop. No matter how long Harbaugh takes.

Readers can contact Ray by E-mail at Rayk@monroenews.com or on Twitter @RayKisonas.

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